Inspector Luke Thanet by Dorothy Simpson

A mystery about a missing girl and a secretive church in a small English village from an author known for “character and psychological insight” (The Washington Post).

On a blistering summer weekend, as all of England rushes to the seashore, Det. Inspector Luke Thanet is looking forward to a few days off to putter around his garden and forget the stresses of his job. A famously soft-hearted detective, Thanet takes every crime personally, and he’s overdue for a break. But when a young girl goes missing, it’s all hands on deck. Thanet will move heaven and earth to bring Charity Pritchard home alive. But do her parents even want her found?

Charity’s family belongs to a strict fundamentalist religious order, and they insist that the investigation of her disappearance be left up to God. But when the holy approach fails tragically and Charity is found brutally murdered, Thanet and his partner, the impetuous young Mike Lineham, will tear the church apart to find her killer.

Winner of the CWA Silver Dagger: A troubled woman returns to her peaceful English village after twenty years—and is murdered within twenty-four hours.

When Det. Inspector Luke Thanet was a young man, Alicia Parnell was one of the most popular girls in Sturrenden: beautiful, charming, and brilliant. But her perfect life was shattered when her teenage boyfriend killed himself. Alicia’s family left town soon after, and Thanet never expected to see her again. But two decades later, Alicia comes home to start her life over in the country village where she was born. No one knows what drew her back, and no one has a chance to ask—because less than a day after her return, Alicia is murdered.

Her body is found in the Black Swan hotel, and all signs point to strangulation. Inspector Thanet is shocked by the death of someone he knew, and to find Alicia’s killer, he’ll have to dig deep into their shared past. Someone in Sturrenden has a secret, and Thanet must uncover it before the killer strikes again.

A British detective must find the killer of a much-despised villager in this mystery from “a modern-day version of Agatha Christie” (Booklist).

Det. Inspector Luke Thanet’s stomach clenches up as soon as he hears the phrase “head bashed in.” Even after countless homicides, the mild-mannered country cop has never gotten comfortable with murder, and his latest case is particularly upsetting. The dead man is found in bed, apparently the victim of a single blow with a blunt object. When the corpse is identified as Steven Long, the question is no longer who wanted to kill him, but who didn’t?

A troublemaker with enemies wherever he went, Long was loathed by everyone in town, from his long-suffering ex-wife to the man whose family he killed in a driving accident. To find the culprit, Thanet will have to get to the bottom of a lifetime of hate.

There’s no shortage of suspects when a body turns up in a charming English village in this mystery starring mild-mannered Detective Inspector Thanet.

Det. Inspector Luke Thanet is pulling into his driveway, anticipating a long, lazy evening at home, when murder intervenes. A village so lovely it seems straight out of a fairytale, Ribbleden is far from the main roads and Thanet’s usual beat. When the inspector pulls into town, the quiet country streets are deserted: Everyone is crowded outside the manor gates, waiting to learn what happened to Nerine Tarrant.

A notorious woman with a taste for married men, Nerine was found dead on her patio, her neck broken by the fall from the second floor. The wall was too high for an accidental tumble, and a woman with Nerine’s lust for life would never have committed suicide. Many in Ribbleden wanted her dead—but who gave her the final push?

Change is coming to the Sturrenden police station. After twenty years at the helm, the superintendent has retired, and Det. Inspector Luke Thanet is now reporting to a brusque, ambitious upstart recently promoted from Cardiff. A new chief means turf wars and bureaucratic infighting. With the station in chaos, Thanet is almost happy to investigate a suspicious death.

The political side of detective work is what keeps Thanet from seeking promotion. He would rather be risking his neck in the field, and he’s one of the best at his job. When powerful businesswoman Marcia Salden is found dead in the River Sture and the autopsy suggests foul play, Thanet descends on the village of Telford Green, where a tangled web of conspiracy rewarded Marcia’s ambition with murder.